I've had my 2008 R56S since the beginning and had a plan to for a series of mods and I'm almost there. I've completed the following: coil overs, bigger roll bar, cat-back exhaust, NM stage 1 tune and a larger 18" rim and package and some other cosmetic things. The remaining things I wanted to do: Big front brake kit, bigger inter-cooler and a stage 2 tune. Of course this desire has been tempered by the common reliability problems with the R56S: timing chain, thermostat, leaking valve cover and just recently carbon build-up in the head. I love my Mini but wanted to hear from other R56 owners who still plan to continue to mod their 2nd generation cars. Thanks.

 

I'm in the same boat as you, except I got my car more recently than 2008. I went through will all of the HP mods and now I'm to the point where I can do suspension work, which gets expensive fast, or just hold off until the F56 JCW gets released. We already know that a tuned F56S lays down much better numbers than any R56S can on stock internals (or at least that I've seen) and I'm stuck wondering if the money spent into a stage 2/3 R56S is even worth anything next to a new model that smokes it with just a tune. Also, I have so many rattling panels in the R56 that if I did a suspension, it might force me to have to rip apart my trim to fix all of those annoying plastic pieces.

 

That's the crux, should I spend more on my current car or save for something that is more powerful. I would consider the new F56 but I really can't get over the looks (sorry) there are design details that are interesting but as a whole I find the proportions odd. I would love to install the 2 liter engine and the seats in my R56 though.